Reggae oldies blend into Calypso over the speakers as the baking hours lilt past.
Finally the live steel drum player arrives and assaults his instrument with his fresh energy. The throngs of brightly dressed tourists make their way between the stalls, selling everything from fresh nutmeg oil to cheese trays made from salvaged roof tiles. It’s the Easter bazaar at True Blue Bay, and as Shiloh is docked a few metres from all the activity, we feel a part of it all.
Our life for the first week into our ‘chosen lifestyle’ has been at once full of hectic manual labour and like living at the edge of a perpetual holiday. Both elements are so strong. We’ve been living off Carib beers (so good when the they are cold and the weather is HOT), and the patties Jamaica made famous. Yum. Of course I get the spicy ones and JW sticks to the mild.
We’ve acquired the bronzest of suntans without a minute on a lounge chair, just the necessities of crossing town in the middle of the day for marine supplies and groceries.
But the evenings allow us to join in the festivities at the Dodgy Dock bar – Latin night, wing night, Calypso night, happy hours, curry night etc., or just live vicariously through the smells and sounds that waft their way over to Shiloh’s deck.
I’ve been learning all about hand washing and dishes without a dishwasher. No microwave, no toaster, no motivation to cook gourmet meals in the heat and limited space. But we have eaten every day. And each night we fall into bed in the saloon in a satisfied heap of sun kissed exhaustion.
Who knows what next week will hold?
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